And heading back to where it all started clearly made the boys emotional.

One Direction returned to X Factor for final performance (Photo: Syco / Thames / Corbis)

Niall Horan thanked fans for "5 of the best years of our lives so far", while promising that the group would certainly be back together one day.

The band finished off their worldwide Take Me Home tour with Sunday's performance, where they joined Adele and Coldplay on stage.

The group, which also featured Zayn Malik before he ditched them to go solo, came third in 2010's X Factor after losing out (in official terms only) to Matt Cardle and Rebecca Ferguson.

The band thanked fans for an incredible five years

Louis Tomlinson took to Twitter to say: "Well that was an emotional night!! Never can we thank you enough for how special you have made the last five years for us!"

The 23-year-old echoed Niall's sentiments, adding: "I hope you realise what we have all done together really is incredible. You guys have made us what we are today! We'll be back soon enough"

Harry Styles wrote: "To you, you have changed our lives and no words will ever be good enough to thank you for what we have done together."

Meanwhile, Liam Payne opted for humour to mask his pain (we imagine) as he joked about heading to the job centre now that he had some time to kill.

On the group's official Twitter page, the lads shared an emotional farewell video as they enter "the last part of our first chapter".

Liam Payne joked about heading to the job centre

How poetic of them.

Liam addressed their legions of fans as he said:

"Hi everyone, this is just a massive massive thank you to all of our fans – obviously you guys made all this happen for us. We can't believe the way that you've supported us through the last five years.

"Today's a very special day for us because we're at the last part of our first chapter... think that's what we're going with.

"But a massive thank you, we cannot believe you guys, you're amazing, the most dedicated people I think we're ever seen in our lives. So thank you for enjoying us over the years and I hope there's many more years to come.

"See you soon. Cheers."

One Direction appeared on Alan Carr's Chatty Man (Photo: Channel 4)

On Saturday, ahead of their final show, the hashtag #ThisIsNotTheEndOfOneDirection began trending on Twitter as fans hoped the split wouldn't be permanent.

But fear not, some of their famous pals seem to believe that they will be back.

Ellie Goulding believes the boys will be back together soon (Photo: Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

Ellie Goulding recently said: "I think they’ll get back together at some point but they’re just having a break because they've been doing it for so long and it must be taxing.

"I know how hard it is to be on tour for so long and to be performing that much so I think it’s a welcome break for them."